| Canis lepophagus Temporal range: Miocene–Pleistocene |
|
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Canis |
| Species: | †C. lepophagus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Canis lepophagus Miller and Carranza-Castaneda 1998 |
|
| Range of Canis lepophagus based on fossil distribution | |
Canis lepophagus or Hare-eating Wolf is an extinct species of canidae which was endemic to much of North America and lived from the Miocene epoch through Early Pleistocene, 10.3—1.8 Mya.[1] The species existed for approximately 8.5 million years. It is one of the more basal species of Canis, having existed before most of the major clades split. It was a small, narrow skulled canid which may have given rise to grey wolves and coyotes. Some larger, broader skulled C. lepophagus fossils found in northern Texas may represent the ancestral stock from which true wolves derive.[2]
The Johnston's Coyote lived during a period with other canidae, specifically Borophaginae such as Epicyon (20.6—5.330 Ma), Paratomarctus (16.3—5.3 Ma), Borophagus (23.3—3.6 Ma), Carpocyon (20.4—3.9 Ma), and Aelurodon (23.03—4.9 Ma).
The Johnston's Coyote was named by Johnson in 1938. The first fossil record was found in Cita Canyon, Texas. Subsequent discoveries of specimens were found in 4 other Texas sites, Tonuco Mountain, New Mexico, western Washington[3] Sante Fe River, Florida,[4] Black Ranch in northern California, sites in Nebraska, Idaho, Utah, and Oklahoma.
A specimen was estimated by Legendre and Roth to weigh 18.5 kg (40.7 lbs) and another specimen was estimated to weigh 17 kg (37.4 lbs).[5]
|
||||||||||||||||||||